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Military Intelligence Service (Barrayar)
The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) is a major producer and manager of military intelligence. The MIS provides military intelligence to war fighters, defence policy makers and force planners within the Imperial Service and the intelligence complex. The MIS was established in 2870 as a result of a decision by Emperor Ezar Vorbarra, pressed to do so by the War Party. Nowadays is operationally a department within the General Staff. However, through its whole history, the MIS had its competencies partially overlapping with those of the Galactic Affairs Department of the Imperial Security, as well as naturally connecting with areas of responsibility of the Service Security. MIS's Chief is a Lieutenant General or Vice-Admiral who serves as principal adviser to the General Staff and to the Emperor on matters of military intelligence. MIS possesses a diverse workforce skilled in the areas of military history and doctrine, economics, physics, chemistry, world history, political science, bio-sciences, computer sciences, and other fields of expertise. The MIS's mission is to provide timely, objective, and cogent military intelligence to war fighters, defence planners, and defence and national security policy makers: therefore the Service is in charge of providing foreign confidential information. The MIS operates residencies all over the Nexus, along with signals intelligence stations. The Military Intelligence Analysis Centre (MIAC) is the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Service. It is located on Imperial Service Base General Pjotr Vorreedi in Vorbarr Sultana. The MIAC was built in 2977 to consolidate MIS activities in the Vorbarr Sultana area. History The Military Intelligence Service as a separate branch was established in 2870, in the early years of Emperor Ezar's reign, in order to provide an intelligence agency focused solely on military matters and, thus, to avoid the existing confusion between Imperial Security and military espionage. Although the split was requested by the then-embryonal War Party, in order to have an intelligence structure separate from the Imperial Security, its first commander was Ezar's close confidant General Pjotr Vorkosigan, who equipped the then-Military Information Corps with Imperial Rangers personnel, although both Dorca and Yuri already had their own military information gathering systems. The first major engagement which the Military Intelligence was involved in was the Komarran Conquest, under the supreme command of then Admiral Lord Vorkosigan. Preparations were made since 2894, three years before the start of hostilities. Between 2896 and 2900 the Military Intelligence Corps was slowly filled with officers loyal to Crown Prince and to his acolytes, despite the containment carried out by Captain Negri and the Emperor. Following the disastrous defeat of the War of the One hundred and twenty days and the death of Crown Prince and Admiral Vorrutyer, Emperor Ezar purged the Military Intelligence Service stopping all its major officers and commanders. Despite the purges, many officers harboured resentment against the Emperor and the Regent, and supported Vordarian the Pretender in his attempt of seizing the power. The Lord Regent, following the War of the Pretender and the brief but harsh Third Cetagandan War, took out the purge, and reorganized the MIC in the current Military Intelligence Service. The first test for the new service was the Komarran Revolt, which lasted from 2904 to 2906. Although the revolt took by surprise the Service, which had lowered their guard, partly because of the recent upheavals in it, since the early months of 2904 managed to create an effective network of information and infiltrated, thus creating the potential for large successes, like the capture of some of the most dangerous rebels in the Domed city of Grantham. This led to a rivalry with the Imperial Security, especially with the Department of Komarran Affairs. The most serious of frictions which happened between the two agencies was the case of the Yellow Cargo, when some of the Imperial Security agents arrested some agents of the Military Intelligence Service on charges of illegal immigration. The MIS response was steady: abroad ImpSec agents began to be exposed, denounced and arrest, until the formal charge of treason, started by the Imperial Security. The Regent's intervention was hard and fast, and determined the so-called Midwinter Agreements, in late 2907, an informal entente between MIS and ImpSec: the Chief of Imperial Security (at the time Captain Simon Illyan) lost the right to propose or veto the candidate to the leadership of the Military Intelligence Service, but on the other hand MIS lost the responsibility to operate against Komarran and home non-military threats. In operations abroad, the military intelligence service kept the responsibility of military espionage, although with the cooperation of the Imperial Security. In the fourteen years that followed, the collaboration between MIS and Imperial Security was strengthened, so that the 2920 Military Security Act ordered the transfer of oversight of the Service Security to the MIS, also thanks to the fact that the hierarchies of the latter were now reformed. During the Hegen Hub Crisis and the following War of the Hegen Hub, the Military Intelligence Service provided a constant information flow about military movements of the invading Cetagandan fleet: these data pieces were sent to Pol, in order to convince Polan policy makers to sign the Hegen Hub Alliance with Barrayar, Vervain and Aslund. During the following, more calm decades, the Military Intelligence Service continued to operate both externally, in a deeper and more integrated manner with the Galactic Affairs Department of the Imperial Security, and internally, with the Service Security; due to elusive borders of spheres of interest, also the MIS was involved into the Yarrow Incident. Organization MIS is led by a Commander, typically a third-level general/flag officer. The current Chief is Vice Admiral Ronald Bourgeois, who assumed command in Midwinter 2998. MIS is organized into these primary operational directorates and centres: * Commander of Military Intelligence Service: is the person appointed to command and direct the activities and agents of the Service. This post is the highest level of command within MIS. ** Service Command ** Financial Division (SC1): the Division is responsible for predicting the necessary financial and disbursing all finances to the various departments. The duty of this branch was keeping a complete and accurate record on all appropriations, expenditures and dispersals. ** Personnel Division (SC2) ** Archive Division (SC3) * Training Directorate (D7) * Combat Intelligence Collection Directorate (D8): is tasked with collecting combat intelligence. It is responsible for intelligence units from the battalion level and up to the entire force; it operates mainly on the ground. It is directly subordinate to the Military Intelligence Service. Defence intelligence and HUMINT Directorate The Defence intelligence and HUMINT Directorate (D1) manages MIS's human source intelligence collection, including the Military Attaché System. D1 conducts worldwide strategic human intelligence collection operations in support of the General Staff and military operations. It deploys teams of linguists, field analysts, case officers, interrogation experts, technical specialists, and special forces. The Directorate's main Division is doubtless the Intelligence Operations Coordination Division (C11), which is the department that is responsible for integrated intelligence operations and collection. It is a distinct structure from the Joint Intelligence Centre (C21) in so far the IOCB manages the overall co-ordination of various theatres, and not only the co-ordination between different branches within a single intelligence operation or theatre. Directorate for Information Management The Directorate for Information Management (D2) provides an integrated Information Technology enterprise that is improved and maintained in response to intelligence needs and enables collaborative discovery, synthesis, and delivery of critical intelligence to war fighters, defence planners and policy makers, and international partners. It is further subdivided into four Divisions: * Joint Intelligence Division (C21): The JIC-C21 deals with intelligence matters, electronic warfare, IMINT, SIGINT, ELINT and COMINT. * Joint Electronic Warfare Division (C22) * Computer Emergency Response Unit (C23) * Military Cryptoanalysis Activity Division (C24): responsible for Code Breaking, distribution of reports, interception and cryptanalysis, communications security. Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection The Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection (D3) collects Measurement and Signature Intelligence which is technical intelligence that results in intelligence that detects, tracks, identifies, or describes the signatures of fixed or dynamic target sources. Given the interstellar nature of the powers involved, it is by force a relatively inactive subdivision, except for the nearest space forces. Directorate of Analysis The Directorate of Analysis (D4) is responsible for handling amounts of data from sources, searching for hostile activity by analysing the patterns or trends in the data they handle and transmitting the information to the Service Command. Analysis also handles, examines and copies useful technologies. The Directorate of Analysis has several branches: * Defence Analysis Division (C41): handles most sensitive information. * Signal Analysis Division (C42): examines the channel through which information is transmitted. Signal Centre examines line noise to check if it contained a pattern rather than random error, and broadcasts and beam casts to see if the backup information sent with the primary information matches, and, if not, how they differ. * Cryptanalysis Division (C43): is responsible for all code-breaking. All evidence of coded communication found through Signal's work are transferred to the Cryptanalysis Centre. * Technology Division (C44): is the branch of Analysis responsible for analysing a foreign hardware, figuring out how it works and devising methods to provide superior hardware. * Interrogation Division (C45) is responsible for the handling of enemy agents captured by MSC-C52. * Military Long-range Threat Assessment Division (C46): is responsible for delayed menaces assessment. Directorate for Intelligence The Directorate for Intelligence, General Staff (D5) has the function of advising and supporting the General Staff with foreign military intelligence for defence policy and war planning. It is subdivided into three main Divisions: * Military Attachés Division (C51): Military attachés are dependant on Military Intelligence Service, but they are drawn from Imperial Security. They are in charge of both Service Security and Imperial Security for the embassy. * Military Security Division (C52): The of primary business Military Security Centre are counter-espionage security within military bases and personnel, acquisition of military information relating to foreign countries, military-technical information, including those of the military police together with the Service Security. * Defence Evaluation Division (C53): Alongside the two operational Divsions, the Defence Evaluation Division acts as an evaluation bodies in charge of assessing the defence capabilities, strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Military Security Division The Military Security Division (C52), organized within the Directorate for Intelligence - General Staff, serves as the internal security apparatus. Its goal is the security of Military Intelligence, both from an espionage and operations scale, as well as a physical security standpoint. The MSD-C52 agents are well mannered but also ruthless to the core. Information inside MSD is heavily secured against unauthorized access, but no restrictions against other agents: every decision, action or piece of data generated by a member of MSC is available for any other agent to examine. This lack of secrecy, and often privacy, is designed to make it difficult for a hostile agent to operate within MSC-C52. The MSD-C52 is in turn subdivided into two branches: the Internal Security Bureau (B521) and the Internal Counter Intelligence Bureau (B522). The Internal Security Bureau is the security police for the physical locations of Military Intelligence Service. They are the most visible uniformed branch of the Service to openly carry weapons in MIS facilities. The Internal Counter Intelligence Bureau is the proper internal affairs and counter-intelligence branch. ICIB-B522 is divided into three units: Analysis, Operations, and Intelligence. Intelligence Operations Directorate The Intelligence Operations Directorate (C6) is tasked with fusing tactical, operational, and strategic intelligence assets and with serving as the centre for coordination of these assets in response to combatant command requirements. In order to carry out its task, the C6 Directorate has three main subordinate organs: * Division for Clandestine Service (D61): Is a directorate tasked with ramping up spying operations against high-priority targets, focusing on major targets of classical intelligence beyond pure tactical considerations. The DCS-D61 works in co-operation with the Imperial Security and the special forces. * Division of Logistics (D62): this office serves to organize the logistic services needed by Intelligence stations or personnel through space. Logistics personnel also arrange for interstellar transportation and incorporate the regular Transportations Command routine schedules into their plans. They essentially serve as the quartermaster bureau which must ensure that the supplies get to wherever they are needed. * 60th Strategic Unit (C63): information gathering, reconnaissance and sabotage. Homeland network Under the central structure outlined above, the Military Intelligence Service has a local station in each Regional Command and Subordinate Military Region, called Military Intelligence Station. Each Station is usually subdivided into sections for espionage, sabotage and counter-intelligence. Typically each Station is commanded by a senior officer and is to the Military Intelligence Service HQs. Operations carried out by each Station are subordinated to the overall strategic plan formulated by the Commander of Military Intelligence Service, which in turn receives instructions from the General Staff. In practice, however, each Station is given some degree of autonomy in mission planning and execution. Each local Station recruits potential agents for missions. In most cases, the agents are recruited as civilians. Intelligence Units * 1st Military Intelligence Regiment: Aerial Signals Information Acquisition, mostly dedicated to support Service Security in peacetime. For non-military signal intelligence-related activities and data collections, the Regiment is subordinate also to the Chief of Signals and Communications Security Department of the Imperial Security. * 2nd Military Intelligence Regiment: Interrogation * 3rd Military Intelligence Regiment: Human Intelligence * 4th Military Intelligence Regiment: Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence * 5th Military Intelligence Regiment: Functional Training * 6th Military Intelligence Regiment: Intelligence and electronic warfare, Human Intelligence (HUMINT) * 7th Military Intelligence Regiment: Counter-intelligence * 8th Military Intelligence Regiment: Counter-intelligence * 9th Military Intelligence Regiment: Analysis, Collection Management * 10th Military Intelligence Regiment: Intelligence collection, Analysis, and Dissemination * 11th Military Intelligence Regiment: Electronic warfare Intelligence Fleet Military Intelligence operates a relatively small fleet of starships dedicated to various aspects of its operations. Information about these ships, including their names, registries, and crews, are tightly controlled as they often contain sensitive materials, technologies and individuals with a high level of knowledge of intelligence operations. Only a few of these ships are authorized to identify themselves as Starfleet Intelligence ships, though their specifications and missions are still classified. These "public" ships are made known to other Sector Commanders and tactical officers with the necessary security levels so that those officers may request location specific intelligence information which can often be more efficient and time saving than contacting Military Intelligence through proper channels, especially in more remote locations. Intelligence ships have hulls as cargo freighter, but they are capable of gathering the necessary intelligence themselves or tapping into tightly secured networks to retrieve the information requested. Ships operating within the Military Intelligence Service run without transponders or (more often) with altered signals to mask their true identity. Related voices * Imperial Service (Barrayar) * Imperial Security (Barrayar) Category:Barrayar Category:Intelligence agencies